The next day, Octavia trotted over to Vinyl’s as soon as she awoke. She wasn’t sure how much difficulty the DJ would have with her new guests, but in case it was more than she could handle, she wanted to be able to help.
When she knocked, a smiling Twilight opened the door. “Hi Octavia!” she said. “You’re here early. Element business?”
“Er, no,” said Octavia. “Did you have a pleasant night?”
“Yeah! Vinyl even offered to let me use her bed, but I said no, of course -- I couldn’t kick my host out of her own bed. I was just on the couch in the kitchen.” Twilight began to trot back inside. “I was out like a light as soon as we got here, actually. I didn’t even get through my bedtime reading.”
“Where is Trixie?”
“I don’t know.” Twilight frowned. “I haven’t seen her, but--”
“Hey!”
The two ponies looked up to the landing with Vinyl’s bed on it. Trixie was poking her head over the side, her mane in utter disarray.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie requires her beauty sleep. Make less noise!”
“Trixie!” said Twilight. “You kicked Vinyl out of her bed?”
There was a rustling, and then Vinyl popped her head over the side as well. “What? No, I’m here. What’s wrong?”
Twilight stared for a moment, steadily turning a bright, tomato-style red, before collapsing backwards on her haunches. “But... but... eww!” She stuck out her tongue. "I was in the next room! Ew!"
“Pshaw. The Great and Powerful Trixie finds love wherever she pleases.” Trixie smirked as she stepped out of bed. “Just because you are too shy for such activities does not mean we all--”
Head high, she stepped forwards, and proceeded to walk off the landing.
“Aaaah!”
Twilight's horn glowed, grabbing Trixie just before she crashed to the ground. “Careful!” she said.
Vinyl snickered, and just like that, the ice was broken.
***
“It wasn’t pure theory, and it wasn’t pure practice either. It was a combination,” said Vinyl. She had grabbed the two unicorns some sodas and was sitting with them at her kitchen table. Medley and Fluttershy had also come by and listened to Vinyl recounting their defeat of the Ursa. “I needed my spells to work with the equipment I had, but I had to adapt them to work with Octavia’s instrument instead of my percussion. Different frequencies, different kinds of onsets, everything, everything.”
“So, what, the right combination is half and half?” said Twilight, a skeptical look on her face.
“No, there isn’t...” Vinyl frowned. “There is no right combination. That doesn’t matter. What matters is why you’re doing magic in the first place.” She leaned back. “What’s the point in magic for its own sake? So you make a bunch of ponies chant your name, or you get your name in the journals. Who cares? If it’s all focused on you, you’ll never be able to cast the really important spells -- no matter how many books you read, or how much you experiment with magic.”
She got to her hooves. “Magic is a tool. I use it to create awesome music for ponies to hear... and to help ponies that need help, like you two last night.” She smiled. “To help my friends too. Theory, experiments... those aren’t important. What matters is, at the end of the day, if ponies are better off thanks to your use of magic. That’s why I can use the Element of Magic. Because I know how to use my magic to help others, especially my friends, whether it’s making music they can enjoy or driving away cosmic bears.”
Trixie frowned. “But... compared to you, we--”
“Stop focusing on who is better, or whether books or experiments are better. Get back to why you’re doing magic in the first place.” Vinyl grinned. “Trixie... I’m guessing you want to make ponies happy at your shows.”
“Of course,” said Trixie. “That is Trixie’s special talent, after all. Magical performances.”
“And Twilight, you want to create new spells... spells that can help ponies?”
Twilight nodded eagerly.
“Then just do that,” said Vinyl. “Both of you. All the little stuff will work itself out, and you two will be the best mages you can be.” She grinned. “Right?”
There was silence for a moment.
“No!” said Twilight.
“What do you mean, ‘no?’” asked Medley. “You’re not still hung up on that inane theory-versus-practice, are you?”
“You aren’t going to fight any more Ursas, are you?” asked Fluttershy.
“Especially seeing as how the last one almost killed you,” added Octavia.
“No.” Twilight bowed her head. “It’s not...” She trailed off. “Thank you,” she said at last. “For saving my life. I really appreciate it. And I do want to pay you back. But just because I lost one competition doesn’t mean that all the theorists are wrong. It just means that I wasn’t strong enough.” She smiled. “I can’t abandon everything I learned in the Academy just because I made some mistakes. Anymore than you could change musical genres if a classical musician beat you in one of your ‘battle of the band’ things.”
Vinyl chuckled. “I guess that’s a fair metaphor. But what will you do instead?”
Twilight hopped to her hooves. “I will study all the harder! I will travel far and wide, and I will not return to Ponyville until I have mastered magic that will surpass yours!” She grinned. “Vinyl Scratch, I hereby declare you... my rival!”
“Your what?” asked Vinyl.
“My rival! My nemesis, who might have showed me up once before, but whom I will eventually defeat! I will learn all the magic of the world, read every book, master every spell, until I can overcome you!” She looked almost giddy. “Oh, my checklist says every great archmage has a rival! I’m ahead of schedule!”
Vinyl shook her head, but she was smiling. “You’re really set on this, aren’t you?”
“Yes!”
“Well... as long as you don’t start anymore fights, I can’t complain too much.” Vinyl smiled. “Just don’t get in any more arguments over who’s the better mage, okay? We might not be able to bail you out next time.”
Twilight bowed her head. “I won’t. I will be good, I will stay safe... and I will master magic to defeat you.” She grinned fiercely. “I promise!”
“Trixie will come with!” said Trixie, suddenly.
“What?” said Twilight. “I didn’t say you could come!”
“Trixie knows. She has invited herself along on your quest. She also wishes to learn magic to defeat her... worthy adversary.”
“That wasn’t what you called me last night,” said Vinyl.
Trixie grinned. “Well, last night, you called me--”
Twilight covered her ears. “Stoppit!”
“Anyway,” said a smirking Trixie, “Trixie has many valuable skills she could lend Twilight Sparkle on her quest!”
“Like what?”
“Trixie has actually traveled across Equestria before,” said the showmare. “Has Twilight?”
Twilight hesitated. “...no, but if I read some books...” she trailed off. “Uh...”
“Trixie knows how to survive in the wilderness, how to fix a broken cart, how to wow the locals... and, of course, Trixie has an unlimited bank account.” Trixie grinned. “Unless you were planning on simply stealing any spellbook you required?”
Twilight blinked. “...on second thought, we can go together.”
“Splendid!”
“Now, all we need is Spike--”
Vinyl’s door burst open, and Spike ran in. “Trixie? Trixie? Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Vinyl blinked. “Uh. Wasn’t Fluttershy watching you?”
“Yes -- but she left, so I managed to escape!!” Spike jumped on Trixie’s back. “Keep that yellow pegasus away from me! She was horrible!”
“Like what?” asked a baffled Octavia.
“She wouldn’t feed me any gems! She said they were unhealthy and I’d need to eat ‘staple’ rocks and minerals like rock salt, limestone, quartz... she said that I could only have one gem a week! And then I told her that I liked to sleep twenty hours a day, and she was all, ‘No, a young dragon needs exercise!’” Spike shuddered. “Let’s flee now, before she comes back!”
“Um,” said Fluttershy. “I’m right over here.” She frowned. "A proper diet is important--"
Spike squeaked and hid behind Trixie. “Save me!”
Trixie rolled her eyes as she levitated Spike onto her back. “Until next time, then, Vinyl Scratch.”
“You’d better be ready!” said Twilight. “Because next time, we’ll show you awesome magic, the likes of which you’ve never seen!”
Vinyl laughed. “Hey, maybe you’ll give me some good ideas for my shows. Safe travels, you three.”
And that was that.
***
From a hilltop, the four Element Bearers watched the two unicorns and the dragon leave Ponyville.
“Good work, team,” said Vinyl. “We showed up that Ursa.”
“And those two,” said Medley.
“Oh, we shouldn't be like that,” said Fluttershy. “They’re much nicer now. And they’re friends with each other too!”
“What do you think, Tavi?” asked Vinyl. “Want to travel the world with a gazillionaire heiress and the most famous scholar we’ve ever met?”
Octavia thought for a moment. “I wish them luck,” she said. “But I would not want to go with them. I would rather stay here.” She smiled. “With my friends.”
“Oh, so you admit it at last,” teased Medley. “Before you were all, ‘I’m too sucky for friends.’”
“You are my friends,” said Octavia. “Even if I sometimes make mistakes. And I am profoundly happy for that fact.”
She felt hooves around her barrel, and then realized that Fluttershy was hugging her. Before long, the four were locked in one large embrace.
“Well,” said Vinyl. “As we’re all friends here, I move that we all drop by Sugar Cube Corner. After all that, I need a milkshake. Stat.”
Medley grinned. “Race you!”
And with that, the four friends scampered off into the night.